[HAUL] Birthday haul from Cosmetic Love (Part 1)

In preparation for winter, I wanted to restock/bolster my skincare collection to make sure I can care for my skin during this cold and dry season. I have also been struggling with a returning case of dermatitis on and around my lips so I wanted to restock some specific items to help deal with that. Since it was my birthday recently so I splurged a little bit to treat myself so I made another order with Cosmetic Love ^^ As always, if you are interested in ordering from them, please consider using my referral link so that you can get 15% off and we both receive loyalty points towards our next orders!

I’ll separate my haul into two posts. Part 1 will deal with makeup and part 2 will cover the skincare products!

This post will contain swatches and first impressions of:

• Etude House Bling Bling Eye Stick (#1, #11, #12, #13)
  에뛰드하우스 블링블링 아이스틱 (1호, 11호, 12호, 13호)
• Etude House Play 101 Pencil (#28, #36)
  에뛰드하우스 플레이 101 펜슬 (28호, 36호)
• Etude House Super Slim Proof Pencil Liner (black)
  에뛰드하우스 슈퍼 슬림 프루프 펜슬 라이너 (블랙)
• Holika Holika Jewel Light Waterproof Eyeliner (#9 18K Gold)
  홀리카홀리카 쥬얼라이트 워터프루프 아이라이너 (9호 19K 골드)
• Innisfree Auto Pencil Liner (#4 Wine Burgundy)
  이니스프리 오토 펜슬 라이너 (4호 와인 버건디)
• Innisfree Power Proof Pen Liner (black)
  이니스프리 파워프루프 펜 아이라이너 (블랙)
• My whole collection of Peripera lip products (including the three I received in this most recent order)
  • Peri’s Ink Original (#2 Get The Eye)
    페리페라 잉크 (2호 시선루팡)
  • Peripera Vivid Tint Water (#1 Cranberry Squeeze, #2 Apple Squeeze, #5 Plum Squeeze)
    페리페라 비비드 틴트 워터 (1호 생생 크렌베리에이드, 2호 달달 복숭아에이드, 5호달큰 자두에이드)
  • Peri’s Ink Stick (#1 Most Beauty, #2 Foxy Red, #5 Very Pretty)
    페리페라 페리스 잉크 스틱 (1호 질투유발, 2호 밀당고수, 5호 넘나예쁨)
  • Peri’s Ink Velvet (#6 Celeb Deep Rose, #7 Dollish Beige Rose, #9 Love Sniper Red, #10 Ooops Fuschia)
    페리페라 페리스 잉크 더 벨벳 (6호 여주인공, 7호 아련폭발, 9호 넘심저격, 10호 폭풍대쉬)

[SWATCHES] Small Sephora haul

I recently returned the bottle of Farsali Unicorn Essence I’d bought a couple weeks ago, because as pretty as it was it just wasn’t agreeing with my skin or doing any particularly spectacular good.

Unfortunately, I am generally pretty powerless to walk into a Sephora and leave without less money and more makeup. So, after returning the absurdly expensive bottle of Stinky Sparkly Pretty Pink Water, I grabbed a few things I’d been eyeing for quite some time, and a few impulse buys.

• Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadow in Sailor Kiss and Let It Snow
• Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick in Coven (matching lip liner was purchased a while ago)
• Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask (clear)

Now, I have recently started weakening my self-imposed ban on purchasing Kat Von D products. I decided not to give my money to the brand because there are a number of things Kat herself has done that make me quite uncomfortable, some of which is related to her personally and some of which is related to the brand (for example, the naming of certain lipstick shades). But I can’t deny that the products themselves are of impressive quality, and when I can’t find dupes or alternatives elsewhere I occasionally indulge myself.

A while back I’d bought one of the new lip liners, because I needed something pale and purple to go with my Sugarpill Kimchi liquid lipstick. Unfortunately, the Coven lip liner is not a great color match, but I kept it because it’s such a unique and interesting color. I can always use with with other lip products. But I’d been eyeing the Coven lipstick proper for a long time now, and always hesitated to buy it not only because of my KVD no-buy but because I find pale lipsticks tend to look unflattering on me. For some reason, either they slightly changed the formula or the color balance of my face has changed, because now I quite like how it looks on me. Or maybe I just started liking the “undead glamour” aesthetic.

I also finally picked up Bite Beauty’s Agave Lip Mask, the clear version, because I have absurdly dry lips no matter how much I exfoliate. I need to drink more water for sure. Anyway, I’d tried a sample of it a while back and was extremely impressed – a little of it goes a very long way. It’s very moisturizing, absorbs into the lips without leaving a greasy residue, and smells lovely. I also have Bite’s minty lip primer balm, which doesn’t do much for my flaky lips so I always have to remember to exfoliate before using it. With the lip mask I can slap some of that on before my lipstick if I’d forgotten to exfoliate my lips or don’t have time to do it.

I grabbed two Sephora Collection eyeshadows. A simple matte white shadow, which has been missing from my collection, and a dupe for the dark greenish-blue shade from the ABH Subculture palette, which was the colour that initially drew me to the palette. I’d looked for dupes among other brands at Sephora but nothing was the same, either too blue, too green, or too sparkly. Funnily enough, when I walked past the Sephora Collection I glanced at their eyeshadows just in case and found almost a perfect match!! I’m very pleased. And now to find a goldenrod/mustard colour…

Finally, I also got a Sephora brand travel bag for makeup brushes, which I’ve long needed because none of the many pouches I have are long enough for my longer brushes. It was on sale for $9 on the website but was out of stock when I made my last order – usually the online sales don’t extend to in-store products but for some reason, this pouch was also reduced to $9, so I snapped it up! I forgot to put it in the pictures I took of everything else though…

Anyway! Onto the swatches~

[SWATCH POST] NYX & OCC Lip Liners

Not a haul post, this time! I am making an effort to post on a less infrequent basis, so today I’ll be sharing swatches of all the lip liners I own from NYX Cosmetics and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics!

[HAUL] Lit Cosmetics + Thank you!

Before I get started, I just want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been using my referral code with Cosmetic Love!! I have received several notifications that my code has been redeemed and I am so grateful that you have enjoyed my reviews enough to use my referral.

If you purchased from Cosmetic Love please leave a comment and let me know what you ordered!! I’d love to share your excitement and talk about the products you’re anticipating 🙂

And now onto the main subject of this post! GLITTER.

My makeup collection is, at this point, comically large for someone who isn’t a professional makeup artist. AND YET, somehow, I have not really dipped my toe into the world of glitter except for two experimental sifters of NYX Cosmetics glitter that I’ve barely used in the past year.

But recently, I heard about the company Lit Cosmetics through a friend who had purchased from them. My friend looks so good in glitter but only recently did I start becoming interested in trying it myself! This is also thanks to some inspiration from people I follow on instagram and youtube who post bright and glittery looks.

@lilyywhite_
@glitterxbits
@midnight_weirdo
@leighdickson
@hann4hbeth
@beccaboo318
Ms Undead Rainbow (vid1 vid2)
Jordan Hanz

To my delight, I discovered that Lit Cosmetics is a Canadian company which means I paid in my own currency and didn’t have to deal with shipping delays at the border! (Just the usual Canada Post delays, lol.)

While making my product selections, I looked up blogs and social media accounts to see swatches of the colors I was considering, and found a blog that offered a 20% off code – which, I discovered, still worked!

And now, without any further delay, THE HAUL!

Click the READMORE to see pictures of each shade! You can jump to the bottom of the post to see a few gifs of the glitter in action!

[REVIEW] Foundation/BB Cream samples

While organizing my stash of skincare and makeup samples, I realized I had a couple foundation and BB cream samples I’d never really paid much attention to since I’ve got my go-to fullsize products and rarely think about replacing them unless I have something specific in mind. But I have the samples so I might as well test them out!

The three samples are:

• Innisfree Mineral Mineral Moisture Foundation (2 shades)
• Etude House Double Lasting Foundation (3 shades)
• Nature Republic Super Origin Collagen BB Cream (1 shade)

[REVIEW] Etude House Any Cushion Color Corrector (Mint, Lavender, Pink)

Today I will be reviewing three of the four Any Cushion Color Correctors from Etude House! Honestly, now I kind of regret not ordering the fourth shade (Illuminate) but I thought at the time that I wouldn’t need it since I have similar products already. But now my collector’s completionist urge is complaining!

Click for fullsize!

Click for fullsize!

Click for fullsize!

I’ve had these products for a couple weeks now, and since I received them I think I’ve used at least one of them every day that I put on makeup! I’m honestly so delighted with them.

Click the Read More for more photos and the full review!

[HAUL/UNBOXING] First order from Cosmetic Love (Korean cosmetics & skincare)

I recently bit the bullet after much hemming, hawing, and comparing of various online Korean beauty resellers that ship internationally. Finally I came out with Cosmetic Love as the best option to go with, when considering product selection and prices, shipping times and cost, and other buyers’ experiences.

Shipping 👍🏻

Living in Canada, I always expect the shipping fees and time to be the worst part of ordering online, but one of the reasons I chose to buy from Cosmetic Love is that they offer free standard shipping on all orders, with free tracking on orders over $50.

I placed my order on May 29th, it was shipped on June 1st, and according to the tracking number arrived in Canada on June 5th. There were two slight mixups – the first being that the tracking number assigned to my order never showed up in the tracking system, but when I contacted Cosmetic Love’s customer support they quickly responded and gave me the correct tracking number which I was able to use from then on. The second issue was entirely Canada Post’s fault – though they received my package at their sorting facility in Mississauge on June 5th, after arriving in my city on the 6th it suddenly made a detour to a third city, then went back to Mississauga, and finally returned to my city yesterday (June 9th) when I received it. Even taking that little delay into account, this is one of the fastest experiences I’ve ever had with an online purchase. From the moment I placed my order to the moment I had my package in my hands, it only took 11 days, including weekends. It normally takes even longer for me to receive things I’ve ordered from the United States, let alone from Korea. Based on this alone I’d recommend Cosmetic Love and plan to order from them again. Now onto the actual products!

Products 👍🏻

Given how extensive their selection of products is, and how often they offer promotions and discounts, I had a hard time narrowing down my cart to something I could afford. Even then, I probably went a little overboard… whoops! Among my selection were products I’ve already owned and want to replace or backup, and new products I’ve heard a lot about and want to try. Some of these things have been on my wishlist since I last visited Korea in November, and I regretted not picking them up then!

Pictures of the unboxing after the READMORE!

SWATCHES: Suva Beauty UV Hydraliners

I’ve had my eye on Suva Beauty products for a little while now, mostly thanks to the fascinating creations I’ve seen on Instagram. A couple months ago I heard that these products were being sold in the American Forever 21 stores, but unfortunately, even though Suva Beauty is founded by Canadian beauty guru Shaina Azad, the Forever 21 stores here in Canada have not yet begun to stock their products. As a Canadian, the online cosmetics retailers I order from are nearly always international, and with that comes the extra fees of currency conversion and shipping – not to mention waiting forever for the package to arrive, unless one (not I!) can afford to pay an arm and a leg for expedited shipping.

But to my delight, I discovered that Suva Beauty actually have a dedicated Canadian website, with prices in Canadian dollars, for domestic customers. So I took advantage of their recent Mother’s Day sale to get my hands on four of their famous Hydra Liners, choosing all UV-reactive colours that glow under blacklight, since I had nothing like that in my collection yet.

The upper row features Scrunchie (neon pink) on the left and Acid Trip (neon orange) on the right.
The lower row features Fanny Pack (neon green) on the left and Dance Party (neon yellow) on the right.

Read more for my initial thoughts!

Review: Holika Holika Lazy & Easy Egg Smooth Egg Peeling Gel & Soda Pore Cleansing O2 Bubble Mask

As I’ve mentioned before, I adore exfoliating peels! Back in November while I was in Korea I picked up a bunch of stuff, including a few items from Holika Holika’s Gudetama collection, including the peeling gel pictured above. While I was in the store, the sales assistant and I were talking about my other skin concerns – in this case, big pores – and she pointed out the Soda Pore Cleansing bubble mask. I was sold on it immediately when she showed me how it works! I’d seen regular foaming cleansers before, but those only become foam when you lather it up. This one comes out of the pump bottle as a regular thick liquid but as soon as you spread it across your skin it starts to bubble up and turn into foam! You’re only supposed to leave it on for two minutes, I believe, and then wash it off. It works as both a regular cleanser but is especially efficient at getting gunk out of pores.

I’ll get into the details of these products as I explain how I fit these products into today’s skincare routine 🙂

Skincare Diary // 2017.05.03

Oh dear. My poor skin.

On Wednesday, I tried to aggressively deal with the blackheads clogging up my massive pores and ended up scrubbing my nose and cheeks so raw any makeup I applied afterwards to that area stung my skin. My bad for doing such an intense cleansing early in the day instead of at night….

I love Holika Holika’s line of “pig nose” products aimed at reducing blackheads, sebum, and pore size. I’ve been using those products for years with positive results. My problem was combining them with the SkinFood Egg White Pore Foam, which I scrubbed into my nose using a thick-bristled brush from Nature Republic, and finishing it off with SkinFood’s very astringent Cooling Toner. I have used all those products in the past with success but the SkinFood ones are really heavy duty especially on my sensitive skin and I think I really overdid it with the little scrub brush. It was probably not a good idea to use two different exfoliants on my nose, but I was really irritated with the buildup of sebum and persistent blackheads.

Afterwards, I treated my whole face with my usual Innisfree The Minimum Toner and Super Aqua Max moisturizer cream, and used the Nature Republic aloe eye gel under my eyes for extra care.